Sony’s Cloud TV service

Sony has revealed plans to launch an Internet service that will bring live TV programmes and on-demand content into the home.

Andrew House, chief executive of the Sony Computer Entertainment Group, unveiled plans for the Internet-delivered games and television service in a presentation at CES.

The new service would seek to combine the best of cable TV offerings and digital services, which it would offer through its Sony PlayStation 3 games consoles in the US.

“It’s really just trying to bring a new experience of TV viewing,” said Sony President and CEO Kazuo Hirai. “We always talk about it, as an industry, but we’ve never been able to bring that together.”

Hirai dismissed questions that Sony would encounter the same obstacles as Intel which recently scrapped its own Internet TV service due to a lack of content deals. He said Sony offers something that the newcomer lacked: an established base of 25 million PlayStation 3 users in the US who might not sign up for traditional cable or satellite service.

“We’re talking to broadcasters; that’s a compelling number….What we’re trying to do is resolve one of the biggest hurdles that a lot of consumers have,” Hirai said. “Watching live TV on one device, watching streamed video another device.”